Page 74 of Fletch

I give a nod. “Okay. So, let’s sort this first and I’ll decide.”

Grizz fist bumps me, probably relieved he can relax now I won’t be looking at his old lady. “Let’s go and pay him a visit.”

“You booked us in to see him?” I ask, glaring at Axel.

He grins, nodding. “How brazen, right?”

“Or stupid,” I mutter as we approach the front desk of the police station.

“We have an appointment with Mark Stone,” Axel announces proudly.

The officer looks us up and down warily before picking up the telephone to inform Gemma’s father of our arrival. “How did you even get us an appointment?” asks Grizz.

“I called his secretary,” says Axel like it’s the most normal thing in the world. “Don’t tell Lexi, but we had a thing a few years back. She worked for the Chief of Police before Mark, and probably the one before him.”

“Fuck, how old is his secretary?” I ask.

The officer buzzes the side door open and instructs us to come through. He meets us the other side and leads us along the corridor. An older woman stands to greet us, fixing her eyes on Axel with a small smile pulling on her glossed lips. “He’ll be right out,” she tells us just as the office door opens and Gemma’s father glares at us.

“Step in here,” he barks, and we file through like naughty schoolboys.

He slams the door and goes behind his desk. “Is this a joke?” he asks.

“You tell me,” I counter. “Ruby certainly doesn’t think so.”

He scoffs. “That’s what this is about? Ruby?”

“I want my name on the birth certificate,” I tell him, and he laughs, “and Gemma’s.”

“Impossible.”

“Find a way,” I tell him firmly.

“Not a chance,” he spits, glaring at me. “Now, get the hell out.”

“I don’t think you understand,” I say, pulling out the second copy of the sex tape. He stares at it warily. “Of course, we made copies,” I confirm with a smirk.

“I can see the headlines now,” says Axel, staring off into space. “Chief of Police’s police officer daughter in sex scandal with suspected criminals the Met were investigating.”

Grizz laughs too. “Or London’s Met police sleeping with the enemy.”

“Good one,” says Axel, and they fist bump.

“You neanderthals,” spits Mark. “It’s Gemma’s face that will be out there.”

Axel smirks. “Not just her face.”

“How about, Chief of Police steals vulnerable teenage daughter’s baby?” I suggest, placing my hands on the desk and fixing him with a stare. “I don’t care how you do it, but you will change that birth certificate because we have enough shit to throw your way.”

He leans back in his chair. “I did you a favour,” he says. “She had the best education, the best upbringing, all the things you could never have offered her. And now, you want to rip her away from all she’s known and raise her in your clubhouse?” His laugh is mocking, and it instantly pisses me off. I clench my fist, and Axel spots it, shaking his head in my direction as a warning not to smash it into his face.

“I don’t care if we shame your daughter,” Axel announces, heading for the door. “She isn’t our concern. But we will release that tape and everything else we know if you don’t sort it by this time tomorrow.”

Gemma

My father is raging. I can hear his footsteps as he paces his office. “Is this what you want?” he yells. “To embarrass me?”

“I didn’t know he was going to go to your office,” I repeat.

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